Erie Philharmonic

Disney, Mathmatics and John Adams

Huffington Post

Jenny Oaks Baker:America's Violinist

When we listen to the music of Jenny Oaks Baker it reminds us of sunshine, fresh mown grass on a summers evening, the smell of a newborn baby and watching the sun set over the Gulf of Mexico. Her music suggests intellectual passion, coupled with tranquility.

KSL Studio 5

Interview with Brooke Walker

Grammy-nominated musician Jenny Oaks Baker is known as "America's Violinist." She has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and the Library of Congress. But it's perhaps her personal resume and priorities we admire most, as a wife and mother of four.

Jenny Oaks Baker celebrates the release of her 14th album titled "Awakening."

Mormon Women Stand - Blog

Jenny Oaks Baker: A Testimony of The Family Proclamation

Grammy Nominated Artist Jenny Oaks Baker is one of America’s most beloved and accomplished violinists. In this guest blog post, she shares her powerful testimony of The Family: A Proclamation to the World. We love Jenny and are grateful for her words during this historic 20th anniversary celebration. Jenny’s father, Elder Dallin H. Oaks, is one of the original apostles who signed this prophetic document in 1995, and is a bold defender of the family.

FamilyShare.org

This beautiful cover of "No One Is Alone" tells a story that brings us to tears

NurturingMarriage.Org

Where real people talk about real life and nurturing their marriage

It only takes about ten seconds with Matt and Jenny to realize they just love each other and enjoy life together. They really are the best of friends. While respecting each other, they still know how to keep things lively, and they both share a similar sense of humor. They had us all laughing through the whole interview. They know how to keep it real, how to keep it fun, and how to focus on what matters most.

Jenny Oaks Baker mixes classical with classic rock for SCERA show

Baker will perform tunes from her latest album “Classic: The Rock Album” among others, with accompaniment by the symphony orchestra, which has approximately 90 musicians. Songs from classic rockers The Who and R.E.M. will be featured during the outdoor performance, along with cinema soundtrack and Disney favorites.

Deseret News

Jenny Oaks Baker and a career built for the goodnight kisses

For a woman who worried that her music career might be finished after she quit a sweet gig with the National Symphony Orchestra, Jenny Oaks Baker has remained remarkably busy.

A Grammy-nominated, Juilliard-trained violinist from Utah, she performs 60 to 75 concerts a year. This year she will perform everywhere from Alexandria, Virginia, to Snowflake, Arizona, not to mention, Dallas, Baltimore, Phoenix, Birmingham, Madison, Seattle and Orem, where she will be a guest soloist with the Utah Symphony on June 23.

LDS Living

Just Asking: Jenny Oaks Baker

We sat down with acclaimed violinist and Grammy award nominee Jenny Oaks Baker to find out what inspires her music, how she juggles career and family, and why she loves it all. And now you can get her new album Classic for 20% off this week at Deseret Book!

Deseret News

Jenny Oaks Baker Combines Classical With Rock Tunes

Jenny Oaks Baker told the audience at the world premiere concert for her newest CD at the Thanksgiving Point Show Barn in Lehi on April 11 that she’d never heard of Led Zeppelin before she started putting together her latest album “Classic: The Rock Album.”

That didn’t stop her from performing a heartfelt, energetic number combining “Kashmir” from Led Zeppelin with “Presto” from Four Seasons.Her violin was on fire and Baker was into the music…

Deseret News

Jenny Oaks Baker to Perform in Utah County

LEHI — Jenny Oaks Baker will perform with the Timpanogos Symphony Orchestra at Thanksgiving Point in a concert featuring her newest album, “Classic: The Rock Album,” which, according to Baker, is ironically her most classical album. “This is really not a new approach for me,” Baker told the Deseret News. “I am a classically trained violinist, and this is a classic rock album — with orchestra. It’s really quite up my musical alley.”

Herald

Violinist Brings New Classic Rock Album to Thanksgiving Point

The concert premieres Baker’s 12th CD, which was released through Shadow Mountain on April 1 and represents a new outlet for the classically trained violinist.

“I’ve done Disney, movie themes, quite a few hymns, some classical and Christmas music,” Baker said. “This is an avenue that I haven’t explored.”

And it’s also new for her fans. Baker said the project got a few double-takes when the idea was first thrown out there.

“Some people thought it was a joke when they heard I was doing a rock album,” she said, “because I don’t have tattoos and I’m not really known as a rocker. But it’s classic. I try to be classic and not play music that’s here today and gone tomorrow. I think that’s why it works.”

Mormon Artist Interview

You have had the opportunity to perform with many talented groups and people, as well as at several prestigious venues. What has been your most memorable performance?

My musical highlights have been performing with the National Symphony, the Pittsburgh Symphony, and at Carnegie Hall. Spiritual highlights have been performing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, performing “I Know That My Redeemer Lives” at the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem, and being a Time Out for Women presenter. My favorite performances are those when I am able to feel the Spirit really strongly as I play, and know that those in the audience are feeling it too. It is a great privilege to be a vessel through which God’s love and Spirit can be felt by others.

Musician’s Friend “The Hub”

Strings That Sing-Violinists Discuss The Craft

For Beginners First Picking up a Bow

Grammy-nominated classical violinist Jenny Oaks Baker has sold more than a quarter of a million albums, has performed internationally and served as a musical competition judge. She started her violin journey as a young child, and wishes that more children had that opportunity.

"When I was younger, it was my mom that really made sure I practiced every day (except Sunday). Her commitment to consistent, effective practicing, along with excellent teachers and probably an innate musical gift, enabled me to excel at the violin from an early age. Once I could see that I was good at the violin, the desire to keep working hard at it started to come from within. I have always loved performing, so I was willing to work hard practicing in order to be able to perform. It is an incredible thing to be able to share good music with people, and be a part of them hopefully experiencing something grand and incredible."

Deseret News

Jenny Oaks Baker Stuns Pennsylvania Crowd

A few weeks ago in Harrisburg, Pa., a sold-out hall of 1,200 women witnessed this firsthand. They bought tickets to be moved by Jenny’s music, but when the lights went down, they got much more than they paid for. What unfolded was brand new for the woman who’s played countless concerts since her very first at the seasoned performance age of 4.

Washington Post

Violinist Nominated for Pop Grammy

“Jenny Oaks Baker, an Annandale mother of four and a former first violinist for the National Symphony Orchestra, is well known in the classical music world. Her last album topped the Billboard classical chart. But this year, she recorded an album of music from Disney movies, and now it’s been been nominated for a Grammy for best pop instrumental album of the year, going up against the likes of Brian Setzer, Booker T and Dave Koz.”

Washington Times

“Few would dispute that motherhood is a demanding job, and Jenny Oaks Baker is among its best practitioners.

She also happens to be one of the most accomplished violinists in America.

Trained at Juilliard, Baker has released ten albums to critical acclaim. Her latest, Wish Upon a Star: A Tribute to the Music of Walt Disney, is her first to be nominated by the Recording Academy, but it follows other commercial successes, including her previous album, Then Sings My Soul, which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Charts.

Her most important, and impressive work, however, is parenting her four children.”

Washingtonian Magazine

“The life of a classical musician can often seem like more of a nightmare than a fairy tale, but if Washington is looking for a real-life local princess, it won’t do much better than Jenny Oaks Baker. The violinist, Virginia resident, and self-professed “soccer mom” who performed with the National Symphony Orchestra for seven years found out this week that her newest album has been nominated for a Grammy award in the Best Pop Instrumental Album category. And even more appropriately, the album, Wish Upon a Star, is a record of popular Disney songs, performed by Baker and arranged by Emmy-winning composer Kurt Bestor.”

Deseret News

“It’s easy to tell that violinist Jenny Oaks Baker is all smiles over the news of her Grammy nomination — even in a quick conversation over the phone as she picked her 5-year-old up from preschool.Baker’s latest album, “Wish Upon a Star: A Tribute to the Music of Walt Disney,” was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Pop Instrumental Album category Wednesday night.”

LDS Living Magazine

“There’s a lot more work that goes into real-life fairy tales than one might think. Jenny Oaks Baker’s fairy tale–winning a Grammy nomination for the first time–is one of diligence and faith as she has striven to make all her wishes come true.”

Meridian Magazine

“Jenny Oaks Baker, noted violinist, got word last week that she had been nominated for a Grammy Award for her album “Wish Upon a Star: A Tribute to the Music of Walt Disney,” in the Best Pop Instrumental Album category.

A Julliard graduate, she has been the first violinist in the National Symphony Orchestra and has released 10 best-selling albums with “Then Sings My Soul” hitting No. 1 on the Billboard Classical Charts.”

WTOP 103.5 FM

After the Grammy Award nominations were announced in that extravagant televised concert special Wednesday night, the excitement took on a unique fever pitch in one house in Annandale.

It came when a mom and her two oldest kids checked the Grammys website for the nominations you don’t see on TV.

“Just as my husband was calling from Australia, he was on a business trip, I saw my name and we all started screaming,” says Jenny Oaks Baker, who just picked up a nomination for the music industry’s highest honor for her solo CD, “Wish Upon a Star.”

Annandale Patch

Jenny Oaks Baker can’t wait for February. The violinist’s tenth album, “Wish Upon A Star,” has earned her a spot at the 54th Grammy Awards for Best Pop Instrumental Album. This is Baker’s first Grammy nomination.

“It’s a great album,” said the Annandale resident and mother of four. “I think if people listen to it, they’ll like it. Our oldest child is 10 and so for the past five years we’ve been living and breathing Disney. I love the magic of Disney, I love the message of Disney and I love the music of Disney so it came pretty naturally to want to do a Disney album.”

BYU Daily Universe

Sometimes, when you wish upon a star, you end up with a Grammy nomination.

Jenny Oaks Baker, a popular LDS violinist, was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Pop Instrumental Album category for her album “Wish Upon a Star: A Tribute to the Music of Walt Disney.” The album is a compilation of classically arranged Disney staples, such as “Colors of the Wind” and “Beauty and the Beast.”

Salt Lake Tribune

“…Utahns Google “Disney music” more than any other state.

That’s good news for Utah native Jenny Oaks Baker, her producer Kurt Bestor, and Shadow Mountain Records, one of the labels run by Deseret Book. The classically trained violinist’s newest album for Shadow Mountain Records, “Wish Upon a Star: A Tribute to the Music of Walt Disney,” was released earlier this month.”